SALISBURY — After Colton Laws grabbed everything in sight during Saturday night’s 57-47 win against Salisbury, Carson coach Brian Perry grabbed Laws outside the locker room.
Perry let his junior big man know he was definitely an all-tournament pick after the 6-foot-6 Laws scored 21 points and had 25 rebounds in the Cougars’ 57-47 win to claim third-place at the Moir Christmas Classic at Goodman Gym.
“Unbelievable,” Perry said. “I thought he was eating the glass pretty good, but I had no idea he had 25.”
A day after getting dominated on the glass by Davie County, Laws keyed a push to rectify that. Carson got the point, grabbing 57 boards to match their point total. There was 22 second-chance points as the Cougars boxed out Salisbury in the paint and on the third-place stand.
“I did everything I could to get a rebound,” Laws said. “We didn’t box out against Davie and so we wanted to make a point today to do it.”
Points weren’t coming easy for either side but Laws and Tre Williams (12 rebounds) did everything they could to give the Cougars extra chances. Laws sealed with a thre-point play on a putback with 2:20 to go. He sunk the free throw for a 50-43 edge.
Carson (7-6) won third to tie their best performance at the Moir.
“We really wanted to be playing tonight against North for the championship,” Laws said. “I feel like we’ve got to play hard every game.”
Laws,had 10 rebounds and four points at the half before a monster second-half. Salisbury had no answer.
“It’s hard to win when you get doubled up on the boards like that,” Salisbury coach Jason Causby said. “That’s supposed to be one of our strengths. We just didn’t block out.”
The Hornets were 5 of 14 foul line and shot 31 percent (19 of 61) from the floor. Salisbury (4-7) trailed 25-23 at the break but never took over the lead. A jumper from Jacob Raper and a baseline runner by Marquez McCain made it 39-33 with a quarter to play.
A jumper from Rameiq Howard and a layup on a fast break from Laws made it 47-38. Salisbury led another charge with consecutive baskets from Buster Hillie to pull within four with 3:05 left.
That’s when big man Laws stepped up with all of his extended frame and delivered the knockout blow on the three-point play.
“The fans got involved and our bench got involved late,” Laws said. “It picked up the tempo of the game.”
DeShawn Troutman and Wes Fazia scored 10 points each to lead the Hornets. Carson won despite shooing 32 percent (21 of 64).
“It’s a long season and we’re 0-0 in league play,” Causby said. “We’ve got to keep going.”

SALISBURY (47) — Alexander 10, Fazia 10, Troutman 8, Usry 6, T. Petty 5, Hillie 5, Adams 3, Yang, J. Petty, Brown.
CARSON (57) — Laws 21, Williams 9, Raper 8, McCain 8, Howard 8, Stout 3, Hower, Parker, Love.

Salisbury 10 13 10 14 — 47
Carson 15 10 14 18 — 57